RV park regulations by state

How states regulate RV parks

RV park regulations by state follow three patterns, and in most states the state layer is thin. A few states regulate parks under a health rule with numbers a layout can be drawn to, among them Florida, whose 64E-15.002 sets 1,200 sq ft per RV space and 25 units per gross acre, Michigan, whose R 325.1556 sets 1,200 sq ft with 15 ft of road frontage, and Colorado, whose 6 CCR 1010-9 sets 900 sq ft and 25 campsites per acre net of roads, buildings and common areas ^{[1, 3, 2]}. Utah, Arizona, Georgia and Tennessee regulate sanitation and spacing through health rules and leave density to county and city zoning ^{[6, 7, 8, 9]}. In Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Missouri, no state RV park design rule was found; counties and cities set the caps, and the state appears through water and wastewater rules ^{[10, 11, 12, 13]}. Texas adds one statewide design layer: under SB 1 (2025), a campground must comply with applicable provisions of NFPA 1194, 2021 Edition ^[4].

The table below sets out what each state's own rules say where the research verified them, so the point where the state stops and the county begins is visible row by row.

Method note

Every value in the table is read from a primary text: a state statute or administrative rule, a state agency's guidance, or a county or city ordinance, cited by number in the cell. A rule read through a legal publisher's copy is named by its official citation, and the source list shows the copy. The source list gives the date each text was read where it is recorded, and some texts are older than that: Tennessee's organized camp rule is the July 2002 revision, Florida's Department of Health posts Chapter 64E-15 as a 2018 version while the state's rules register lists 64E-15.002 as effective December 30, 2009, and the electrical figures are the 2023 NEC text ^{[9, 14, 5]}.

Cells are marked four ways:

• A figure with a citation: the number as the cited text states it, with the section where the text gives one.
• None in state rule: the state's rule was read and sets no such standard. A county or city figure after it is a named example of the local layer, never a statewide value.
• No state RV park design rule found: the search reached the state's water, wastewater or lodging rules and found no rule on park layout. That is a finding about the search, not a confirmed absence.
• not verified in our research: the research did not reach the primary text for that cell, or found the state's agency and rule only in a secondary list. It records a gap, not an absence of state rules.

Where two readings of the same rule disagreed on a figure, such as a permit fee, a per-space design flow or a local approval route, the figure is left out until the primary text is reopened.

RV park rules by state

The table has a row for every state and gives a value only where the research verified it: 39 states have at least one verified cell. Each verified cell carries its citation; county and city figures are named examples of the local layer.

Reading the table

Read across the rows that carry values and five patterns stand out.

State density caps are rare, and not alike. Where a state rule caps density, the basis differs ^{[1, 2]}. Florida counts its 25 units on the gross site ^[1]. Colorado's cap is 25 per acre too, but it is counted after roads, buildings and other common use areas are excluded, which lets a Colorado park place more sites on each gross acre than a Florida park ^[2]. County and city caps usually sit lower: 10 recreational vehicles per acre in Fannin County, Texas, 12 per acre in Coconino County, Arizona unless the Board of Supervisors approves a master plan, 12 units per physical acre in Duncan, South Carolina and 4 sites per acre in Pickens County, South Carolina ^{[64, 16, 60, 61, 62]}. The yield each basis allows is worked through in RV sites per acre.

Separation is measured to the deployed unit. Parker County, Texas measures its 12 ft between recreational vehicles with slide-outs extended, Colorado counts awnings or other attachments as part of the unit, and the Town of Parker, Arizona includes awnings in its 5 ft ^{[67, 2, 17]}. Pads in those places are drawn to the fully deployed footprint, not the chassis.

Without a state design rule, wastewater sets the thresholds. In North Carolina the local health department can approve systems up to 1,500 gpd; above that a professional engineer is required, and above 3,000 gpd or with a dump station the state reviews ^[11]. In Texas an on-site sewage facility treating over 5,000 gpd, which TCEQ equates with approximately 100 hookups, needs a TCEQ domestic wastewater permit, and disturbing 1 acre or more needs Construction General Permit TXR150000 ^[10]. South Carolina's R.61-56 names campgrounds as large onsite system users ^[12].

Seals arrive with engineering, and with Michigan. Michigan's construction permit requires plans prepared and sealed by an engineer or architect registered in Michigan, and the owner must verify in writing that construction matched the approved plans before the first license ^{[35, 3]}. Callahan County, Texas requires PE-sealed, TCEQ-approved water and sewer specifications ^[69], and North Carolina requires a professional engineer above 1,500 gpd ^[11]. The preliminary site plan fixes the layout those sealed sets are drawn on, and the engineer of record seals the utility design.

Florida fixes the geometry at approval, and Texas reaches design through fire safety. Under F.S. 513.1115(1), separation distances are those set at the park's initial approval by the Department of Health and the local government, and later local ordinances on lot size, density, separation or setback do not apply to the permitted park ^[23]. That makes the first approved layout the long-term one. In Texas, SB 1 (2025) requires campgrounds to comply with NFPA 1194, 2021 Edition, and limits local regulation of sanitation, electrical, LPG and fire protection ^[4]. County practice there is set out in RV park approval in Texas counties.

Layers under every row

These apply whatever the state rule says:

• Electrical. NEC 551.71 (2023 text) requires a 20 A, 125 V receptacle at every powered site, a 30 A receptacle at 70 percent or more of sites, and a 50 A, 125/250 V receptacle at 20 percent of existing and 40 percent of new sites; its informational note says the 50 A share could approach 100 percent in seasonal parks ^[5]. Each state adopts its own NEC edition.
• Floodplain. Under 44 CFR 60.3(c)(14) and (e)(9), an RV in a special flood hazard area must be on site fewer than 180 consecutive days, be fully licensed and ready for highway use, or meet the manufactured home elevation and anchoring rules ^[82]. Michigan also requires water outlets above the 100-year floodplain elevation (R 325.1552(3)), and Colorado bars sites subject to periodic flooding (s. 3.2) ^{[33, 2]}.
• Public water. TCEQ states the public water system trigger as "at least 15 connections or 25 people at least 60 days out of the year" ^[10]. Georgia's rule requires a public water system at an average of 25 spaces for 60 days a year ^[8].
• Fire. NFPA lists the 2026 edition of NFPA 1194, issued October 16, 2024, as current ^[83]. It binds where adopted, as in Texas at the 2021 Edition and in the Town of Duncan, South Carolina by reference ^{[4, 60]}.
• Accessibility. The Access Board's 2013 camping provisions are not part of the DOJ 2010 ADA Standards and have no legal effect on private entities, which may use them as guidance; the 2010 Standards still govern a private park's buildings, accessible routes and parking ^[84].

Where to go from here

The table is the cited companion to the studio's long-form post, RV park and resort site plan requirements: a 50-state regulatory matrix. For the layout these rules feed, start at the RV park site plan hub: pad types, road and separation standards, the NEC receptacle mix and the approval path. The amenity-led version is on RV resort site plans, and the service itself is on preliminary site plans.

RV park pages by state:

• Texas RV parks, Florida RV parks, Arizona RV parks, North Carolina RV parks, Tennessee RV parks, Georgia RV parks, Colorado RV parks, Michigan RV parks

State site plan pages for states with verified rows include:

• Texas, Florida, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Michigan, Utah, Missouri

Model projects that show one jurisdiction's rules shaping a plan:

• RV resort, Bandera County, Texas, RV park, Polk County, Florida, Snowbird RV park, Mohave County, Arizona, RV resort with cabins, Sevier County, Tennessee, Campground with cabins, Chaffee County, Colorado

Related plans: campground site plans, glamping site plans and glamping and campground regulations by state.

How these sources were chosen and when the page is reviewed: how we research.

By Viola Sauer, Principal, Innowave Studio